Bumper fitment dilemma

[No Quarter]

Bought rechromed bumpers from a local guy, taken off a 66. The good news is that the rear bumpers fit well after some mild body adjustment.
But the fronts are a puzzle to me. Both the ones I bought and my old ones, too far gone, both sets have too small radius, meaning they hit the body at their rear, just in front of the front wheel. Since both sets do that, both sides, my first thought was I needed to curve the front fender more inwards at the back or outwards in the middle. And I spent a few days on that (not painted yet), but I can do no more without seriously hurting the bonnet.
Still, front bumpers hit fender at the rear.

Locals have suggested the following:
1. Grind down on the rear part of bumper, chrome should survive
2. Put bumper in vice and squeeze on the sides, that will increase radius a bit
3. 1+2
4. Ignore it, I risk ruining something, and most E-Type bumpers on restored cars are nowhere near perfect (of course all the close ups you see online are perfect, if they weren't, there wouldn't be a close up)

I've tried 1+2 on my old bumpers and it seems to work. But I'm still reluctant to do it on the parts that will end up on the car (unless I ruin them)

Suggestions from people who suffered the same?

[Gfhug]

Mikael, how about adding photos to help show how bad it is? And are you trial fitting with or without the bumper seals? They may help to hide some of the gap. This info will help those more experienced than me to give you more help.
Good luck.

Geoff

[politeperson]

I would use a 1mm cutting wheel to alter the radius on an angle grinder. It shouldn't get too hot.

Use a sharpie to mark the area to be operated on and go easy. Make sure you are holding the bumper to the body in the same place as it may take a few goes. Go easy. Use masking tape on the body if it is painted!

If they are steel bumpers, a dab of paint on the edge before you glue the rubber on will stop it rusting.

[66an]

I had the same on my car. The front bumpers had too small radius.
I grinded them in the front and the rear and rechromed them. I used a small air driven belt sander when grinding.

[265bhp]

Grind bumpers to fit as needed…..you are spending a much larger total sum of money compared to a small amount of re-chroming….amending the bodywork is like the tail wagging the dog….do it once and right and you will always be glad of it…

I did and never once regret it…

All the best
Jonathan

[No Quarter]

Tail, dog, maybe you're right Jonathan. I would say though that there are two arguments for adjusting body instead of bumper. One is that these new bumpers came off a car, not a reproduction set that had never been fitted. The other is that the new bumpers are more or less exactly shaped like the old ones, that were attached to the car a decade ago before the previous owner took it apart.

Adding that I'm in the before-paint stage, I've concentrated on the body. And thankfully gotten quite far. The rears are like the best I see in pictures. The fronts have now been trialfitted including motifbar etc., and it's starting to look good. Only one side hit the body at the rear, and I loosened all the fasteners inside that area, inserted a chisel-like thing between bumper and body, pushing body in, fastened all the fasteners. When I then removed chisel, the body did go half the way back out, but left a gap of 3 mm, I'll settle for that.

One has gotta remember the goal for the restoration. This will never become a max point exhibtion car. It was so far gone, so if it hadn't been a 3.8 it would not have justified the effort. I plan to build it as best I can, and my goal is that it will be a daily (dry-weather) driver. I have some friends here in DK that have E-TYpes that are very very well restored, beautiful, but they don't drive them a lot, and afaik never really fast. I plan to drive it often and fast...

Thanks

[265bhp]

Hi Mikael

It’s your car so you must do with it what you choose….forums only allow the rest of us to express a preference for what they might do..if the deflection of the body work will not be seen when the car is block sanded and then painted then hopefully it will achieve what you are looking for so best of luck with how it turns out for sure

I don't think there is a correlation between driving fast and not dong a perfect restoration though…

Best
Jonathan

[No Quarter]

Just an update, all bumpers fit now, an along that road I got the body more straight and mirror correct :-)

[265bhp]

Good to hear…

[No Quarter]

Time to get the bumpers ready to install. They do fit quite well, saw to that before sending the body it to the painter...

Question now, the rubber. First I bought from Limora, didn't fit well. Then I bought with a Jaguar name on it, fits better. But if I put it on, wiggle a bit, it falls off. And the turn at the end near the wheels, impossible.

I've read about gluing, but also read that if perfect fit, it'll hold the rubber on. And read nothing will glue on chrome. ???

How will I get the rubber on the bumper and make sure it stays there when I install bumpers on car?

[Robbiee]

I used superglue ..very little needed and really good for the tip where it had to curve round the point
The pressure between body and bumper should hold the rubber in place